NASA Balloon Breaks Off; Destroys Car

Few months earlier in April, a group of scientists in Australia had launched a balloon for NASA. The massive balloon was supposed to be launched into the upper atmosphere. But the whole plan has been dismantled when the mishap making the balloon broke free of its launch rig.

The incident resulted in destroying a car and the payload attached to the balloon. According to the investigation report issued by NASA, the balloon was carrying a gamma-ray telescope called the Nuclear Compton Telescope which belonged to the University of California at Berkley.

The telescope was partially destroyed in the accident. But the actual reason behind the accident is not mentioned clearly. The PR for the report only says what didn’t go wrong. Watch a video on ABCNews here.

As per the investigation report the weather conditions were acceptable for launch and there were no technical problems with the vehicle or the payload. But NASA states that during the investigation it found there were few procedures for launching the balloon documented and apparently, no one considered or expected the launch phase to be a potential hazard or to make destructions.

All the tests performed prior to the launch were centered on the crane from which the balloon was launched and not with regard to the launch of the balloon.